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Sunday, July 12, 2015

Modern times

Squee

Perhaps lately you've heard the term doxxing. Doxxing, sometimes spelled doxing is short for "dropping docs," and it refers to revealing private information about an enemy, including things like phone number, address, employer, or email address. In recent months, the practice has been used extensively against women involved in the Gamer Gate debate. Take Felicia Day, erstwhile slayerette and America's most adorable ginger. Felicia Day's sin? Admitting online that she was afraid to express her opinions publicly for fear of being harassed, stalked, and threatened. She was doxxed within an hour.You may have heard of some more recent doxxing victims, though you might not know their names. When Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman attempted to buy a wedding cake from Sweet Cakes, a bakery in Oregon, they received instead a quote from Leviticus and were kicked to the curb. The couple sued the owners of Sweet Cakes, as this kind of discrimination is explicitly forbidden by Oregon law. Now many will have you believe that the Cryer-Bowmans are big crybabies who made absurd claims about pain and suffering because of a simple cake. The good Christians at Sweet Cakes were the real victims here.Except the pain and suffering wasn't over the cake. It was over the fact that the owners of Sweet Cakes disclosed the women's address, phone number, and personal email address on their public Facebook page. The harassment and death threats soon followed, both against the women and their two foster children. Which prompted the state to warn the women that they could lose their 2 foster children if they couldn't protect them from the threats brought about by the case. While the Cryer-Bowmans did nothing more than file a completely valid lawsuit, the owners of Sweet Cakes went on a cross-country tour, smearing the Cryer-Bowmans on every news program that would have them. With every press appearance, phone calls and death threats followed, all thanks to the information published online by the plaintiffs in the case. The Cryer-Bowmans only asked to be left alone. So no, the Cryer-Bowmans did not receive their six-figure verdict because they were denied a cake. They received the money because of the pain caused by the reign of terror brought down upon them for filing a completely legitimate lawsuit.